The invention herein pertains to a support for a recreational vehicle (RV) flexible sewer hose and particularly pertains to a support which can be expanded for use and contracted for storage and transportation purposes.
The ownership and use of RVs has dramatically increased in recent years with parks and other facilities witnessing greater RV traffic. Such parks generally furnish a sewage hose stub joined to a septic system for each parking space to permit connection with the RV sewer hose. Once the sewer hose is affixed to the stub, the RV holding tank can be drained, sewage collected and processed by the septic system as required in each locale. In order to adequately direct the flow of sewage from the RV, the sewer hose must be angularly disposed so that the flow of sewage by gravitational forces will be sufficient. Accordingly, various types of trestles, stakes, supports, legs and the like have been developed in the past to ensure that the RV sewer hose is properly biased for sufficient grade and flow. Such prior attempts at supporting a sewer hose have met with problems as some supports require very precise placement and adjustment to function properly. Other sewer hose supporting devices are costly and require much manual dexterity and skill by the RV owner in the assembly, setup and connection.
Thus, with the problems and difficulties associated with present RV sewer hose supports, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a support which will ensure a proper grade for the sewer hose.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a sewer hose support which is easy to open and simple to use by those with relatively little manual dexterity.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a sewer hose support which can be easily extended for use and which can be quickly collapsed or closed for storage and transportation.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a sewer hose support which is durable and unaffected by adverse weather conditions.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a sewage hose support which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and purchase.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is set forth below.
The aforesaid and other objectives are realized by providing a sewer hose support which includes a plurality of arches which are hingedly joined, one to another along adjacent sides. The arches are molded of a lightweight, durable plastic with a hinge ultrasonically welded along the sides for expanding and contracting the support as needed. Thus, the hose support can be manually folded or unfolded as required in a simple, easy and efficient manner. Each hose support arch includes a deep cradle for securely containing the sewer hose during periods of rapid sewage flow and includes a leg affixed to each end of the cradle. A transverse brace is positioned below the cradle which is joined to each leg. Thus, in the preferred form, pairs of identical sized arches are connected to adjacent pairs of arches of lesser height as viewed from the RV, outwadly. The drop or grade of the sewer hose is about 3xe2x85x9xe2x80x3 (7.93 cm) along the length of the hose support while expanded. Thus, the support contains the flexible sewer hose in a biased manner, ensuring proper sewage flow.
When ready for use, the sewer hose support is opened (expanded), placed on the ground between the RV and sewage stub and a flexible sewer hose is placed in the cradles of the arches with the tallest arch being closest to the RV. Each cradle is sufficiently deep and thus supports a linear sewer hose at an angle of approximately 30xc2x0 to the longitudinal axis of the sewer hose, thereby providing adequate support. The sewer hose is then connected to the RV holding tank at one end and to the sewage stub at the other. When the RV is to be moved and use of the hose support is complete, the sewer hose is lifted from the support and the support collapsed into a compact posture so it can be easily stored along with the sewer hose for future use. The sewer hose is disconnected from the RV holding tank and from the sewage stub, rinsed and stored in the hose compartment of the RV.